Obito’s eyes widened at the barrier between them.
No.
No fucking way.
Kakashi was on the other side of the barrier.
He was on the other side of the seal.
“KAKASHI—!”
The man in question weakly smiles at the group and waves, “I wasn’t too late this time, right?”
“IDIOT!” Obito growled as he pounded on the barrier, “DEACTIVATE THIS AND FUCKING PULL HIM IN! STOP THE SEAL—”
A pair of arms hook his own away from the barrier. He screams and thrashes against the pink haired shinobi.
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING!? GET HIM BACK—GET HIM INSIDE HERE YOU BASTARD, DON’T YOU CARE ABOUT HIM!?”
Sasuke’s fists clench and Naruto bites his lip as the timer on the seal ticks away. All of them knew they couldn’t stop the seal.
Kakashi closes his eye, the sharingan has long returned to its owner. Gently, he places his bloodied hand on the barrier, knowing each of his students could hear him. “Take care of each other, okay? I’m… so proud of all of you.”
Sniffles come from his two students and Kakashi laughs, “You too. Sasuke.”
“Bastard.” Sasuke growls, “You..”
There was no malice in his voice.
Finally, Kakashi opens his eye and stares at the desperation in Obito’s eyes. “Live, won’t you?”
“SHUT UP, BASTARD!” He screams and he cries and fights against Sakura to tug Kakashi back inside, but he can’t, he can’t disable the barrier nor the seal, so he thrashes as he watches the Zetsu’s reach out for his teammate, watches as the blood pool beneath him and watches as the light flashes in their eyes, he keeps on screaming against the void, desperately begging him to come back.
“COME BACK HERE—BAKAKASHI COME BACK! THIS—THIS WASN’T SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN—IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ME, COME BACKCOMEBACKCOMEBACKCOME—” He begs and he begs and he sobs, but he knows it’s futile when he opens his eyes and all of them are in a forest full of trees, healthy green leaves scattered into the air, flowers blooming on the ground, light droplets of water trickling onto grass.
He glares at the kunoichi, his hands pulling her up by her collar, “WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT!? WHY COULDN’T YOU LET ME PULL HIM IN— WHY COULDN’T YOU LET ME DIE WITH HIM—”
SMACK!
“Kakashi—sensei gave his life for you.” The blond scowled with tears in his eyes, his fist raised out in front of him. He pulls back shakily.
“It was supposed to be me!” He retorted as his breath quickened. He was panicking and trembling and overwhelmed all at the same time, they all were. He knew it was his fault the war had started. He knew it was his fault people died.
He knew all of that, he wasn’t an idiot, but he couldn’t handle the one good thing left in his life disappearing.
“It was supposed to be him getting this second chance! He deserves every good thing the world couldn’t give him!” He let go, falling to his knees sobbing.
“H—He is the strongest fucking person I’ve ever met—and now— it’s—”
His eyes roll over to the back of his head as Sakura stands over him with grief.
“Obito...” she whispered quietly, tugging his small unconscious body closer to her.
Sasuke turned away. “He’s right. Kakashi…”
He couldn’t bear to finish the sentence.
After all he had been through, Kakashi had stayed loyal to Konoha. Nobody knew how he’d stay so strong, but he did yet all he was given was tragedy over tragedy over tragedy.
“When are we?” Sasuke murmured as Sakura inspected Obito for any injuries he could have hidden.
“Well,” Naruto wiped his tears away, noticing his outfit was suddenly oversized, “We could be during our genin days?”
Sakura shook her head at that. “Obito—san’s too small for that. See? He’s as big as you, Naruto.”
He blinks in surprise, “He is! Huh… no wonder Sensei looked at me weird before.”
Sasuke jumped to the trees, trying to get a glimpse of where they were. “We’re close to Konoha but I still can’t tell when we are.”
“Well… the only way we can tell is if we go there.” Sakura murmured.
They nodded, though Naruto turns to the unconscious Obito. He didn’t know whether to hate or forgive the man, but he sympathised with him. He would have reacted the same if Obito wasn’t present.
“I—I’ll take Obito.” He smiled tiredly at Sakura.
“Are you sure?”
He nodded, trying to keep a light tone in the group or else he might fall apart, “Of course, Sakura—chan! Sasuke would just drag him by the leg and it’ll create more problems ya know?”
Sasuke scoffed.
She lays her hand on his shoulder and squeezes it. “I can hold him.”
“I know.” His voice was quiet as he lifted Obito.
“Okay.” She nodded.
—
“I’m Uchiha Sasuke.” He says to Hiruzen who is scrutinising him warily. Sakura had already mentioned that they were from the future and he almost scowls at the look.
“Haruno Sakura.” She bows lightly, an instinct she couldn’t shake off. He supposed it might’ve been the Hokage office where Tsunade took over.
“Uzumaki Naruto.” He gazes at the boy on his back. “Uhm.”
Hiruzen’s eyebrow raised at the last name Naruto had given him. Probably because most, if not, all Uzumaki’s had red hair. But the boy resembles a pair of ninja residing in the hidden leaf and he makes a guess on who’s child this was. Now, all that’s left is the boy—with pure white hair— that was slumped over on his back.
At this, all three seemed uneasy to introduce him.
“So… Uhm. You wouldn’t believe this Jiji…” Naruto shifted his feet awkwardly. “This is Uhm…Uchiha Obito?”
“Uchiha Obito. He has white hair.”
“Well—! That’s part of the future we can’t say, but he really is an Uchiha! And he really is Obito!”
Hiruzen expresses his doubtful face. They stood there with complete silence for a little while. Naruto gestures to the other two to come closer.
“How are we supposed to convince him this is Obito?” He whispered.
“How would we know?” Sasuke retorted dryly.
“Not helpful!”
“Why don’t you wake him ?” Hiruzen suggested, though it didn’t feel like a suggestion at all. More like a demand.
Sakura grimaced. “We don’t know if… he’ll be rational right now.”
Again, Hiruzen’s face adopted a wary and questioning expression on it. Though the Obito of this timeline was emotional and impulsive, he could collect himself when instructed to.
“Seriously, he’s… we’ve gone through a lot and he’s the most affected right now. Can we please get assigned a house for the moment and we’ll come back later? You can give us your ANBU’s to watch us but we need time to talk to him.” Naruto pleaded.
“Unless you can prove he’s what you say—“
The temperature in the room suddenly dips as the boy on Naruto’s back lifts his eyes with an intense stare, all of his killing intent leaking out from inside him. The atmosphere was heavy, Naruto held onto the boy in case he decided to fight again.
Surprisingly, the boy didn’t move. His eyes faded into red as the three tomoe spinned around his pupil.
“Is this enough old man?” His voice was deep. The murderous tone seeped into it as well. Hiruzen shivered. This was vastly different from the kid who had just left his office hours ago.
“Yes.” He said tightly. He definitely didn’t want to anger the group of time travellers in his office. He knew that they were stronger than him despite the bodies that were too small for their souls. The amount of chakra all of them stored were just too much for his own.
“Obito.” Sakura states and the atmosphere lifts slightly, no more in a suffocating way and his chakra calms.
“So?” Sasuke prompts.
Hiruzen takes a deep breath and calls for ANBU to escort them to an empty apartment.
—
They walked slowly, avoiding the public paths and markets. Obito was staring emptily. None of them knew if he was registering it at all.
If only they knew that he was tracking the way to the old training grounds that were destroyed long ago. He had a mission. And he was going to kill him.
—
‘I should have known.’ Sasuke cursed under his breath when the boy suddenly dashed away from the group, outfighting the ANBU and trapping the younger Obito under him and choking him.
Minato jumped in alarm and moved quickly.
“DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!”
Unfortunately, the future Obito evaded him easily and suspended the boy up with one hand. The younger one struggled, but was far too weak.
“Let go of him!” Minato growled, taking out his kunai.
“One step and he dies.” Future Obito smiles. “He dies a much more painful death than right now.
“Obito stop!” Naruto screamed, “Sensei told you to live!”
Team Minato’s eyes widened at the sudden arrival. The ANBU readied himself for attack.
“Live? That’s impossible!” He scoffed with an insane look in his eyes, “The only way for all of us to survive is if he dies.”
“If he dies, you die!”
He laughs.
‘That’s the point.’ was left unsaid.
“It doesn’t have to be this way, Obito.” Sakura urged him to let go of the boy whose face turned purple the longer he was in the air.
“Listen.” Sasuke scowled, “This doesn’t fix anything!”
He ignores the, “Doesn’t it!?”
“He will just get a new Uchiha. We need you to kill him!”
For a second, he thinks it fails and the ANBU flickers to finally attack and kill the attacker, but the boy scoffs and lets go, leaving the younger Obito to fall.
The younger Kakashi catches him. A pained look appears on his face.
“What has Obito—kun ever done to you?!” The brown haired girl yells defensively, hanging by the unconscious boy who’s fortunately still alive.
“Who are you.” Minato adds darkly, confused and stressed on why the ANBU hadn’t started to arrest the group just yet.
Future Obito’s mouth opens to spout some more heavy insults, but stops when Sakura raises her fist menacingly. Obito raises his hand in surrender.
Naruto huffs. “Now we have to explain this all over again. Hey, Mr ANBU guy, could you not tell jiji?”
Unluckily, the masked shinobi shakes his head.
—
“How could this good-for-nothing idiot turn into someone like this?” Younger Kakashi—‘Kashi’ Sakura corrected in her head to make it easier— asks numbly, while the girl—Rin— next to him gasped in disbelief.
Future Obito was standing a mile away with Sasuke who seemed hellbent on disciplining the man who has gone insane. Their voices growing more dangerous and murderous the more they spend time with each other.
Sakura trusts they won’t though. Both of them understand each other more than they think they do.
“Kakashi.” Minato scolds sternly, though his pained gaze tells him he’s also wondering what had happened to the happy go lucky boy he’d grown close to.
“He… wanted to kill his past self. Why? Why does he seem so angry?” Rin muttered, the most affected with this change as his childhood friend, the one person who’d seen him grow up.
This time, both of them look away, the memory repeating in their minds. Despite being able to stay rational in the office, the realisation of their reality has finally started to settle and process in their heads.
“Our—”Naruto winced, “Sensei. He—”
Naruto couldn’t say it. Kakashi—Sensei. The bloodied version of him flickering in his mind. The younger Kakashi who was standing in front of them with two eyes and no scar.
“He—”He gulped, “I—It’s hard to stay sane in war.” He says instead.
—Live.
—
“It should have been me.” He whispered at Sasuke’s side as his emotions start dipping into the cold embrace of sadness.
“It should have.” The other Uchiha nods.
“Why did he push me forward?” He asks, though he knows why, the sentimental bastard. Kakashi was someone who couldn’t let go. And after all those years of fighting and after all those hours of being enemies, Kakashi still thought of him as his friend.
“That idiot.” He cried.
“That idiot.” Sasuke echoed, looking up into the clouds. His fists clenched remembering the entire thing. He agreed with Obito.
It should have been Kakashi with them right now. But he wasn’t and Obito needed to grow up.
“How am I supposed to move on.” He asks numbly, though it comes out sounding more like a statement when his voice stutters.
Sasuke sneaks a gaze towards his team and he sees similar pained expressions. Against his better judgement, he lays his hand on Obito’s shoulder—it felt so much like how Kakashi would do it when he was younger and a part of the hidden leaf. It makes his body shiver with regret— and he repeats what Kakashi said before.
“Live.”
Obito’s eyes snap back up to Sasuke.
“Kakashi…sensei,” It felt weird to say this out loud, but he felt that the man deserved it, unfortunate how the man couldn’t hear this pure show of respect any longer.
“Kakashi—sensei wanted you to live. And he wanted us to take care of each other. So that’s what we do. We honour his wishes. Are you going to disrespect that?”
Obito turned away whispering, his voice more broken than it ever was before, “How am I supposed to do that?”
“I don’t know.” Sasuke shrugged.
“But he upheld your legacy didn’t he? He wanted to die too. But he stayed. So you should too.”
Obito laughs brokenly as he remembers one of Kakashi’s last words.
“ ‘I wasn’t too late this time.’ Huh.. that bastard used to be such a rule freak. Can’t believe he copied me.”
Sasuke stays quiet, but relaxes slightly at his ‘calm’ tone.
They stay like that for a long time.
—
“Should I buy Icha Icha to continue his legacy?” Obito says suddenly.
“Fuck you.” Sasuke suddenly scowls with his eye twitching in (somewhat false) anger.
The others stiffened at the sudden rage as they had gotten used to the white—haired Uchiha screaming instead of the calm and collected Sasuke.
“It was just a suggestion…” Obito huffed, surprising everyone at his less insane attitude.
“What did he say?” Naruto inquired curiously, wondering if Obito had struck hard in Sasuke’s core with something insensitive.
Tobi musters up his playful persona, half genuine and smiles for the first time in a while, “Just a book suggestion.”
Sakura’s eyes brighten in recognition and laugh.
Team Minato seemed confused. Sasuke doesn’t say anything more.
Naruto grinned, “I’ll come with.”
“Naruto! You’re going to read that filth!?”
“Shut up, I already know the ending, I just want to see him pretend to be Sensei!”
“Oh! I’ll come along, we should get some time—appropriate clothes and make up new names. Our past selves are going to be born, you know.”
Sakura turns to Obito, “Tobi?”
Obito shook his head, “I… don’t want to associate myself with that name anymore.”
He hesitantly looks to Kashi, who stood by the younger Obito cautiously, in case he attacked again.
“Maro. I don’t care for the Uchiha name any more. But… Call me Maro.”
Sakura smiled softly. “Okay.”
—
真路
まろ
マロ
Truthful path
—
In the end, he takes on the Hatake name due to his hair, though Kashi had fought against it, not wanting to be considered related to the insane man who tried to kill his teammate.
Which, Obito—No… Maro understood, but he swore, for now, that he would live. Just as Kakashi told him to.
—
”You’ve all grown up so much. Sukea, huh? My cute little students. I’ll miss you, but I’m so proud of all of you. I promise to tell Tenzo and Sai of the good parts.”